Bastak is a town in the Hormozgan Province of southern Iran. It has a road connecting it to the Bandar Lengeh area and its inhabitants speak Bastaki, a dialect of Persian.

The history of Bastak can be traced back to the Safavids era. When the Safavids under Ismail I decided to Convert everyone residing in current day Iran from Sunni to Shiite
Islam in 1501, they started arranged attacks and massacres against the
Sunni Persians who refused to convert. As a result, many Sunni Persians
left their hometowns for the Zagros Mountains. After the Battle of Chaldiran
where the Safavids lost to the Ottoman the Sunni Persians descended
from the mountains to begin a new life in the land they named "Bastak",
meaning barrier or backstop signifying barrier from Shiite Safavids'
attacks and influences.

Eventually they pledged loyalty to the Abbasids, an Arab dynasty that left Baghdad
after the Moghol invasion towards the southern mountains of Persia. The
rulers of Shiraz at the time, the Atabak, gave them protection to pass
through their lands as they fled from the Moghols. Later on the Abbasids
they took permission from Atabak to establish a state of their own and
rule Bastak and the surrounding villages and islands. It was said that
a few Hashimites moved to Bastak from Khonj
where they had settled after leaving Iraq towards Persia. The Abbasids
carried on the expansion of Bastak's rule until it included more than
60 villages and many islands in the Persian Gulf. Many alliances were
formed between the Bastakis and the Arab rulers in the UAE.
The most famous was an alliance with Sheikh Zayed Alnahyan the ruler of
Bani Yas in Abu-Dhabi and Al-Ain, and Al-Qassimi rulers of Sharjah.
They also allied with the Arabs tribes that resided on the southern
coasts of Persia and in the islands off the coast of Persia and current
day UAE. These tribes included Almarazeeq ,

Alhammady, Al-Ali, Alabadelah, Alnosoori, Al-harami, and others. Together these tribes fought against the sultan of Oman. In one battle the bastaki Abbasids lead, Alqawasem , Alali, Alhammadi, and almarazeeq on an attack against the sultan of Oman.

Many Bastakis emigrated to Dubai, Bahrain, and Kuwait after refusing to pay taxes to Nasir al-Din, the last member of the Qajar dynasty and refusing to give up their Sunni faith. Today, there are many Bastakis in Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Karachi and Oman, who have carried their unique Persian culture, language, and Architecture with them . They have named their neighbourhood in Dubai, Bastakeyah, after their small City of Bastak, and use an old style of Persian architecture that is represented in the Badgir that direct the wind into the houses and cool the interior of the houses, a very common style throughout the Persian Gulf.

The history of Bastak can be traced back to the Safavids era

When the Safavids under Ismail I decided to convert everyone
residing in current day Iran from Sunni to Shiite Islam in 1501, they
started arranged attacks and massacres against the Sunni Persians who
refused to convert. As a result, many Sunni Persians left their
hometowns for the Zagros mountains. After the Battle of Chaldiran where
the Safavids lost to the Ottoman the Sunni Persians descended from the
mountains to begin a new life in the land they named "Bastak", meaning
barrier or backstop signifying barrier from Shiite Safavids' attacks
and influences.

Eventually they pledged loyalty to the Abbasids,
an Arab dynasty that left Baghdad after the Moghol invasion towards the
southern mountains of Persia. The rulers of Shiraz at the time, the
Atabak, gave them protection to pass through their lands as they fled
from the Moghols. Later on the Abbasids they took permission from
Atabak to establish a state of their own and rule Bastak and the
surrounding villages and islands. It was said that a few Hashimites
(descendants of Prophet Mohammed) moved to Bastak from Khonj where they
had settled after leaving Iraq towards Persia. The Abbasids carried on
the expansion of Bastak's rule until it included more than 60 villages
and many islands in the Persian Gulf. Many alliances were formed
between the Bastakis and the Arab rulers in the UAE. The most famous
was an alliance with Sheikh Zayed Alnahyan (Zayed Alawal) the ruler of
Bani Yas in Abu-Dhbai and Al-Ain, and Al-Qassimi rulers of Sharjah.
They also allied with the Arabs tribes that resided on the southern
coasts of Persia and in the islands off the coast of Persia and current
day UAE. These tribes included Almarazeeq (from whom one of the Abbasi
rulers married), Alhammady, Al-Ali, Alabadelah, Alnosoori, Al-harami,
and others. Together these tribes fought against the sultan of Oman. In
one battle the bastaki Abbasids lead, Alqawasem (Alqassimi of Lingah,
Sharjah, and Ras Alkhaimah), Alali, Alhammadi, and almarazeeq on an
attack against the sultan of Oman until they conquered Masqat and
imposed duties on the sultan of Masqat.

Many Bastakis emigrated
to Dubai, Bahrain, and Kuwait after refusing to pay taxes to Nasir
al-Din, the last member of the Qajar dynasty and refusing to give up
their Sunni faith. Today, there are many Bastakis in Dubai, Bahrain,
Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman, who have carried their unique
Persian culture, language, and architecture with them (all of which
have come about through the years of mixing of Arab and Persian
heritages). They have named their neighbourhood in Dubai, Bastakeyah,
after their small city of Bastak, and use an old style of Persian
architecture that is represented in the Badgir ("wind catchers") that
direct the wind into the houses and cool the interior of the houses, a
very common style throughout the Persian Gulf.

Culture of the Bastakis

Bastaki
people speak a local Persian dialect that is made up of Middle Persian.
Many Bastakis today work as merchants and own their own businesses and
are highly educated. They tend to work in finance, real estate,
education and engineering sectors. Not to mention the many medical
practices which they run. They are also known to be a very proud of
their heritage which they preserved even though they live for many
years in G.C.C. And are known to be independent yet very loyal to their
rulers, to Al-Maktoums in Dubai especially and Al-Qassimi in
Al-Sharjah, Al-Khalifa in Bahrain, and to other ruling families of the
GCC countries where they reside